Charlie Taylor Ministries

Charlie Taylor Ministries
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Charlie Taylor Ministries

Episodes

  1. 03/19/2020

    Red Sea Rule #7 – Exodus 14:19-20, Envision God’s Presence

    Exodus 14:19-20, Envision God’s Presence This is Red Sea Rule #7 in Robert Morgan’s book THE RED SEA RULES. The angel of God reflecting God’s glory in the cloud went before the people of Israel leading them in the wilderness. Exodus 13:21-22 tells us that “the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by night.” But in Exodus 14, Pharaoh had a change of heart and assembled his army along with 600 chariots to pursue the Hebrews. God’s glory in the cloud led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made camp. When Pharaoh’s army arrived, the Hebrews were trapped between the Red Sea and the devil (Pharaoh) behind them. Amazingly, the pillar of cloud with God’s glory in it went from before them to behind Israel so that it came between the Egyptians and the camp of the Hebrews. God’s glory in the cloud, which had given light to Israel was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians. In Exodus 14:19, we read that “Then the angel of the Lord who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them…coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel”. The angel spoken of here representing God is spoken of in Isaiah 63:9 as “the angel of His presence” who saved them, and in His love redeemed them. This sounds an awful lot like the pre- incarnate Christ. We know that before the incarnation (birth) of Jesus He existed as God in heaven, therefore according to the function of the Trinity, the messenger from God was no doubt the pre-incarnate Christ. John 1:18 refers to Christ by saying that no one has ever seen God the Father, but Christ has made Him known. Jesus is a perfect image here of giving light to those who follow Him, but those (the Egyptians in this case) who reject Him remain in darkness. Jesus comforts believers, but simultaneously condemns those who reject Him. Paul’s metaphor in 2 Cor. 2:14 applies here that the Gospel of Christ is a sweet aroma to those who believe, but a stench of death to others. Jesus Christ has our back and He also leads us from the front. He is both our Good Shepherd and our shield. Psalm 18 and Psalm 23 David did a beautiful job of depicting God’s leading from our front and protecting us from behind in Psalm 19 and 23. When Saul and his army were chasing David, he wrote Psalm 18 of God delivering him. The Lord was David’s “rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God , my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies.” In v. 35 we read, “You have given me the shield of your salvation and your right hand has supported me”. In everybody’s favorite Psalm 23, David wrote that God is his shepherd who leads him to all the good things he needs like the green pastures, the still waters, and the paths of righteousness. God also restores his soul, meaning that God encourages and builds him up giving him spiritual life and vitality in the dark days of discouragement and fear. Even though he is facing death, David is so encouraged by the presence of the Lord that he “fears no evil”. God comforts him through the hard times. When his enemies surround him, God is there with David meeting his needs. Therefore David can look forward in faith and rest in the fact that God will bring “goodness and mercy” for David in the end and David would “dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. Positive Visualization Recognizing that God’s enveloping presence surrounded and protected the people of Israel, we also need the positive visualization of God’s presence with us as both a guide and a guard. I know that all sports psychologists report positive results from positive visualization, especially on the golf course. Many great players are defeated by their own negative images. I asked a guy who normally hit a fade off the tee why he suddenly developed a hook. He said, “There was out of bounds on the right”. Anxiety, stress, and fear are not only caused by the reality of circumstances, but the fear of the unknown, and the image of doom and gloom in your mind usually produces bad results. Therefore, what could be more productive than positive visualization of God’s presence with you? If God is with us what could overcome us? The next step is to figure out what to visualize. What works best for you, or what do you relate to? David imagined God as his rock, his shield, his refuge, and his fortress. When looking for guidance David envisioned God as his good Shepherd. Isaiah visualized being carried by the wings of eagles, and Moses saw God’s glory as the pillar of fire in the cloud. Jacob saw God’s ministering angels going up and down the stairway to heaven. The Apostle John saw the glorified Christ as a High Priest, a Judge, and a King in Rev. 1:12-16. Which is Better: Exemption from the Trial or God’s Presence with you in the Trial? Let’s consider three Bible stories—Jacob’s fear of Esau in Genesis 32, David’s fear of Saul in 1 Samuel 21, and Paul’s thorn in the flesh of 2 Cor. 12. Jacob wrestling with God, came away with a limp, but even though he limped for the rest of his life, his name got changed in Genesis 32 from Jacob the Deceiver to Israel. Israel meant striving with God in the sense that he had previously lived only for himself but now he lived for God. David’s ten years of running from Saul, found him enduring much hardship living in caves and always on the run. He learned to trust God and live by faith in God’s promises of deliverance. All his circumstances turned out for good as he was proven to be innocent and worthy to be Israel’s king. Paul had a terrible physical pain that he prayed three times for God to relieve it, but God let him know that the pain actually kept Paul humble and of great use for the Lord’s work. Paul had been a proud man, but God found a way to humble him so he could be of great use in taking the Gospel to the world. One theologian asked his students “Why does God give a dog fleas? To let him know that he is a dog.” Through humiliation comes God’s blessing. In James 4:6,10 we read, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you”. Psalm 139, We Are Never Alone! In Psalm 139, the psalmist makes the point of God’s ever-presence. God knows everything that is going on, and no matter where I go He is there. God knows everything about me, and He even knows what I am going to say and do! God is behind me and ahead of me. I can be sure He is there whether I am coming or going. Nothing makes His presence more known to me than crisis situations. When the Red Sea blocks me from going forward, and the 600 iron chariots of Pharaoh threaten me from behind, I must turn to the Lord to save me. As David also said in Psalm 46:1, “God is a very present help in time of trouble”. Remember that God’s presence with you not only means your protection, but should also be a deterrent from sin. In THE RED SEA RULES, Robert Morgan offers four suggestions concerning God’s enveloping presence: 1. Affirm God’s nearness in your heart—dwell on it, be aware of it, remind yourself often, 2. Visualize God’s presence in your mind as David visualized God as his refuge or fortress, 3. Access God’s nearness through prayer—speak to Him often, communicate, 4. Reflect God’s presence in your attitude and activities. As Paul wrote in Col.3:17, “whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God”. No matter what you are doing, have the attitude that you are doing it for God’s glory. CHARLIE TAYLOR Lesson 6 Podcast:

  2. 03/12/2020

    Red Sea Rules 5 and 6-Stay Calm and Live by Faith

    Listen to Audio: http://charlietaylorministries.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/Spring20L6.mp3   In Exodus 14:13-14, after the people panic at seeing Pharaoh’s army advancing, Moses told them, “Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord…the Lord will fight for you, while you keep silent”. The people were ready to give up and surrender, but Moses was telling them to wait and by faith trust God to work in their lives. Red Sea kind of problems are not solvable by you and me. Psalm 37:7-8 says to rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and don’t give up. 107 times in the Old Test. And 43 times in the New Test. We are told to “fear not” because God is with us. Fear is an emotion or a feeling, and we are to live by faith and not feelings. Appearances are that we may have good reason to fear, but we have a stronger ally on our side than the Egyptian army. Therefore move from fear to faith, because “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Does that mean that we do nothing? Of course not, we read in the next verse Exodus 14:15 “Tell the children of Israel to go forward”. Crisis type problems are not solved easily, but we can do something every day. Therefore Red sea Rule #6 is TAKE THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP BY FAITH. Live one day at a time, and do some simple logical thing every day, even if its just getting organized. Jesus told His followers in Matt.6:34, “Don’t be anxious about tomorrow…live one day at a time”. Faith is one of the most used words in Christianity, but I doubt that many Christians really fully understand what Biblical faith is. Fortunately, Hebrews 11:1 gives us a great definition of faith, and then proceeds to illustrate faith in Biblical examples throughout the rest of the chapter. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.” By this he means that the following examples in ch.11 illustrate that they believed God’s Word so strongly that it was a reality to them even though it had not happened yet. Being a reality to them, it convicted them to respond accordingly. There is no other explanation for Noah building the ark when it had never flooded before, or Abraham leaving his home to go to a foreign unknown land. The only reason they would respond so radically is the firm conviction that what God had said would definitely happen. The opposite of this kind of faith was shown in Numbers 13-14 by Israel in the wilderness at Kadesh-Barnea. God told the people He would give them the land and dispossess the evil Canaanites. God led them to the southern border of Canaan, and commanded them to go in, but they hesitated. After spies brought the scouting report that the Canaanites were numerous, big, and well armed, the people of Israel balked, and would not go in to the Promised Land. Their unbelief was so severe that they even desired to go back to Egypt (Nu.14:4). They knew of God’s presence and power because they had seen His glory at Mt. Sinai and heard His voice as thunder when God gave them the Ten Commandments. They had seen awesome miracles as God devastated Egypt through the ten plagues, and then parted the Red Sea so they could escape the Egyptian army. God had provided them manna from heaven and water in a barren land. They clearly had what we can call “intellectual assent” of God’s power and presence, yet they did not believe in God in such a way that they were committed to respond to the risk of going into the land. The author of Hebrews differentiates between true Biblical faith that has faith in God’s promises and commands such that it responds as if it is a reality to them, and worldly faith that is nothing more than intellectual assent. Winners and Losers Nothing seems so important in the world we live in as winning. I remember Patton’s great speech in the academy award winning movie with George C. Scott. As Patton was encouraging his troops, he said, “Americans love a winner, and they will not tolerate a loser!” In Hebrews 11:1-31, the author tells the stories of sixteen great winners. They were heroes of the Bible who were delivered from peril, won great victories, and all of them were empowered to be winners during their mortal lives. These are the guys we want to be like along with all the glory that goes with it. We see ourselves as David slaying Goliath, or Joseph who saves Israel, or Moses who parts the Red Sea. We are typically not interested in being like Isaiah who was sawn in two, or Jeremiah who was beaten and imprisoned. Nevertheless, there is a major pivot in verse 35 that tells us these poor saps (in the eyes of men) were equally approved by God because of their faith. The astounding, shocking but obvious truth is that God has not promised wholesale relief, deliverance, or miracles on call in this life for all His people at all times in every situation. Not all of us will be winners in this life from the world’s point of view. Dynamic Certainty The Bible is full of example after example that biblical faith is a dynamic certainty in God’s Word. It is a future certainty of the future promises of God as if they were in the present. It is a present certainty that brings the invisible God in view such that you act now based on that belief. By faith all the heroes of the Bible responded to God’s Word as certainty, and in this way they were “approved by God”, and He declared them righteous. Each of these characters was willing to accept the worst the world has to offer-death, because of their trust in the best God has to offer-the final resurrection unto eternal life. In Hebrews 11:32-34, he listed six more obvious men of faith-Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Each lived in very difficult times in which faith was very rare, each battled huge odds, each stood alone in their faith, and each of these men had flawed character. I think the thing that surprises most Christians when they finally study these stories in depth is that these supposed heroes were not great men in and of themselves, and they were men of lusts and passions as we are. We can relate to these characters. We may be pessimistic like Gideon, or selfish like Samson, or lustful like David. Nevertheless, by their faith they were of great use to the Lord, and God blessed them. Verse 33 lists how God empowered them to conquer kingdoms, administer justice, obtain promises. Verse 34 tells us they shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames, and escaped the sword. Verse 35 tells the power they gained from God of great strength, mighty in battle, routed armies, and brought back the dead. The point is that God can do these things, has done them, and may do them in your life. God responds to faith. The Great Pivot—but Everybody Else The pivot to a different kind of power received by faith occurs in verse 35. The previous examples of faith received temporal mortal deliverance, and were winners even by the world’s demented perspective, but they were rare and not the norm. The action switches to “others” or everybody else who was not delivered, but received the power by faith to persevere through adverse situations, but did not escape them. Everybody else had victory too, but it was spiritual-the only kind that God guarantees. The emphasis changes to perseverance. How could anyone persevere through scourgings, chains, imprisonment, being stoned, and threatened with death when by simply shutting up or recanting they could be released? Faith empowered them to obey God and persevere to the end. They did “not accept their release”, but continued to preach a very unpopular message of imminent judgment. Their faith empowered them to persevere because they were looking for a “better resurrection”, meaning not just a resuscitation of their mortal life like those in the beginning of v.35, but the final resurrection unto eternal life. The Greek word that our English version translates resurrection is anastasis which simply means rising. They had no particular word for “the” final resurrection, so the author differentiated between the raising of the widow’s son by Elijah and the ultimate final resurrection unto eternal life by calling it “a better resurrection”. These people in view in v.35-40 were looking for something better than just physical temporal victories. They had an eternal perspective looking forward to that ultimate resurrection into a perfect eternal body instead of just some temporary resuscitation like Lazarus received. The world was not worthy of these faithful men because they were righteous and holy in God’s view. Just as these faithful believers did not deserve to be tortured and killed, the world in its evil and violence was not deserving of their righteousness. Results of Faithfulness What were the results for these faithful people? 1. They all died before the ultimate promise of the Messiah was fulfilled. They all died before Jesus came. They lived in hope of God’s great promise which was the means of their salvation and forgiveness. They knew not when or exactly how, but that God would do it. 2. They were all commended for their faith by God. He honors their faith, and will reward it in the end. The people he is mentioning in v.36-39 did not receive what was promised in their lifetime. By this he means they all died before Jesus came. The great promise of God to all generations was the Savior who would redeem mankind. They died before Jesus was crucified, but God had forgiven their sins based on what Jesus would do in the future as Paul wrote in Romans 3:25, “in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed (before Christ)”. God looked forward to the cross of Christ for the full payment of the guilt of sin incurred by the people of faith in the Old Testament. Heb.11:40 says that God had provided something better for us, meaning that when Christ came He brought the New

  3. 03/05/2020

    The Prayer of a Righteous Man

    The Prayer of a Righteous Man Red Sea prayers are crisis prayers, emergency prayers, and tend to be very intense! In Exodus 14:10, The Egyptians were marching after them, and they became VERY frightened, so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord”. During seaside prayers like this, fear has a good result because it puts us totally dependent on the Lord. In his book, RED SEA RULES, Robert Morgan says God brings us to places that scare us so that He may bring us to our knees. Prayer tends to calm us, give us an outlet—a reliable place to go. When you can’t go forward, sideward, and you can’t go back, then its time to look upward and talk to the Lord. We are like David in 2 Samuel 22 when it looked like King Saul had him cornered. David later wrote Psalm 107 about this saying, “In my distress I cried out to the Lord…and He heard my voice.” Crisis time prayers are intense, urgent, and even life threatening event prayers. Do we have a personal God who cares about our individual situation—Absolutely! C. S. Lewis wrote, “God has determined that His actions of love and mercy go hand in hand with His people’s response and faith. God’s plan to govern the church is like a partnership. God granted believers a role in causality. Think of a playwright who allows his characters to affect the play, and then incorporates all their actions into the final result He so determined. The scenes and the conclusion are fixed by the author (God), but the details are left to the actors to improvise.” As a model prayer, I like to refer to Daniel’s prayer taken from Daniel 9. Daniel had been taken captive to Babylon in 605 BC. At the time of his great prayer in Daniel 9:1-19, Daniel was in his eighties. It was about 537-538 BC. Therefore Daniel had been a captive in Babylon for almost seventy years. He had seen the kingdom transferred to the Medes and Persians. Daniel was a student of God’s Word and God’s promises, therefore he remembered the words of Jeremiah the prophet, “When 70 years have been completed, I will fulfill My word to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you…plans for welfare to give you a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”(Jer.29:10-14) We know from Daniel 9:2 that he had a copy of Jeremiah’s scroll. Therefore, Daniel hoped that the captivity of the Jews and desolation of Jerusalem was almost over. In his prayer in chapter 9, Daniel was humbly responding to this Scripture, and he was encouraged to pray for the restoration of Jerusalem. There are two main theories for the seventy year period. Daniel seemed to believe that the period started with his captivity in 605 and ended when the Jews arrived back at Jerusalem about 536, but others date it from 586, when Jerusalem was actually destroyed, to 515 when the Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:1 seems to confirm 605-536 because it says that Cyrus allowed the return of the Jews as a fulfillment of the Word of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah at that time. Ezra says that 49,897 Jews returned to begin rebuilding the Temple, and arrived about 536 BC. The important point is that Daniel believed that the Word of God would be fulfilled by prayer. Prayer is the Sound that Faith Makes Webster’s defines prayer as an address or petition to a god in word or thought. Barna polling service says more people believe in prayer than believe in God. Certainly many more people pray than study the Bible, go to church, or practice any religious activity. Avowed atheists admit that they pray when they get in trouble. Very few of these people can articulate confidently whom they are praying to. The majority approach God when and if they need Him as if He is a benevolent grandfather or a genie in a bottle. One guy told me that God is his good buddy who always has his back. All this reminds me of that story of the little boy who was saying his prayers as his Dad put him to bed. He spoke softly until he got to the part about giving him a new bicycle, and then he spoke loudly. His Dad said, “God can hear you”, and the boy said “I know but mom is in the next room”. Then there was the young unmarried lady who had just heard a sermon on unselfish prayer, so she prayed, “Please give my mother a handsome son-in-law!” My point is that typically the point of view of the human race about prayer is far different than the Bible’s. In my view there are several model prayers for us to study in the Bible, and one of the best is Daniel 9:3-19. Daniel has faith in the promise of God to restore the Jews and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. His prayer here in Daniel 9 is the sound that faith makes. His prayer is made up of three parts: 1. v.4-11 is confession of sin, 2. v.11-14 is acknowledgment of the just judgments of God, 3. v.15-19 is a plea for God’s mercy. Prayer of Confession Daniel begins in v.4 by contrasting the faithfulness of God who keeps His promises and always loves us, to the unfaithfulness and disobedience of mankind. Then Daniel gives a very comprehensive description of Israel’s sin using four different words for sin in verse 5. Notice also that even though Daniel is the only major character in the Bible with no known sins, he identifies himself as a sinner. J. Vernon McGee was preaching a sermon on universal depravity when a student corrected him that Daniel was without sin. McGee showed him Romans 3:23 and Daniel’s confession here and said, “Either Daniel was a sinner or he lied here, which made him a sinner.” In verse 5 we have the four fold extent of Israel’s sin using different Hebrew words for each. It is as if Daniel is making sure he doesn’t miss any part of the general nature of being a sinner, or the external acts of sinning. In English we translate that we have sinned in general, we have committed serious crimes, conducted ourselves wickedly, and been rebellious against God’s authority and God’s Word. To make matters worse in v.6, they were warned many times and had every opportunity to repent, but would not listen. In verses 7-8 he gave a valuable contrast between the righteousness of God compared to the shame and guilt of Judah, Jerusalem, and all Israel. Clearly God was justified in driving them into the far away countries because of their unfaithful deeds. He repeats again a comprehensive guilt of all the people including kings, princes, and our fathers. He is saying that for centuries their leaders and their ancestors were rebellious and guilty. Again in v.9 he gives the contrast of God’s attributes of compassion and forgiveness versus the people’s rebellion and disobedience. Every step of the way for over 400 years God was willing to forgive and bless, but finally He had no choice but to act in severely disciplining His people. How bad did it get? In v.10-11, they have not obeyed, have not lived by His teaching, and have ignored the prophets. Who is guilty? All of Israel had transgressed and turned aside in disobedience. This corporate national guilt is a very interesting concept for us to contemplate. It seems that if we as believers turn a blind eye to the gross depravity, perversions, violence, corruption, and wickedness in our country we may be held responsible for the moral state of the nation. It is interesting to see how America continues to turn a blind eye to pornography, blasphemy, depravity, and my personal favorite, corruption on Wall Street. I constantly ask businessmen what they think about corporate executives making huge salaries and bonuses while the company’s stock value goes down. Everyone knows that most politicians are depraved and corrupt. People acknowledge it’s true but don’t seem to care. We operate in a culture of thieves, but we just continue everyday to go about our business as usual. God Did the Right Thing Daniel begins v.12 with “Thus” or “Therefore”, meaning because we are guilty God has spoken against us and brought calamity upon us. The severity of the calamity is brought out by saying that it was unique in history. Nevertheless, God is righteous and justified in bringing the calamity because He was being faithful in keeping His Word. This “Word” was first given by Moses before they ever came into the land. Moses gathered them on the eastern bank of the Jordan River before they ever came in to possess the land. The Book of Deuteronomy is our record of what Moses told the people as his farewell address. Moses gave a great warning and promise from God in Deuteronomy 28, “It shall come about if you will not obey the Lord your God…the Lord will bring you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known…and you shall become a horror…your sons and daughters will go into captivity…Because you did not serve the Lord your God…therefore you shall serve your enemies…” Plea for God’s Mercy Now in Dan.9:15-19, he turns in his prayer to his great burden and supplication. Notice that Daniel always appeals only to God’s attributes of love, compassion, grace, and mercy. I have heard every manner of prayer, and have noticed a tendency in myself, and others to insert a certain sense of entitlement. Why should God help us-because we are good people. Why should God get me out of this trap-because I need Him to. Why do I deserve deliverance-because God shouldn’t have made me if He wasn’t going to take care of me. I could go on and on with this sense of entitlement I think we all share in different degrees, but you get the point. Daniel’s prayer stands out because there is absolutely no sense of entitlement at all. Daniel appeals to God based solely on God’s attributes. We deserve nothing but a good whipping, but you God are loving and merciful so please turn your righteous wrath away and reconcile your people. In the Old Testament, the standard illustration of God

  4. 02/26/2020

    Ephesians 6:10-18, Spiritual Warfare

    Ephesians 6:10-18, Spiritual Warfare In the materialistic world we live in there has always been wars and aggressive ambitious conquerors. From 335-323 BC, Alexander the Great exerted his will upon the entire Mediterranean world. He invaded Asia and won a series of battles against the larger armies of the Persian Empire. The Persians had terrorized the Middle East for over 200 years, but Alexander’s small army invaded all their territory and took it. About 200 years later the Romans invaded and took it all from the Greeks. Fast forward to the 20th century and Hitler invaded Europe and took all the territory that was not his in order to make it his own. He usurped territory not his in pursuit of his own selfish ambitious agenda. In 1991, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait for his selfish ambitious agenda. In both cases the USA intervened to repulse these attacks, and return the land to its previous owners. Spiritually, Satan the adversary of God has done the same as Alexander, Hitler, and all the other ruthless evil conquerors. The adversary has invaded the whole world we live in, usurped God’s authority, and led the world astray. God has responded and set up His beachhead in the world through the church. Satan is waging war everywhere in temptations, divisions, struggles, lies, and suffering. The obvious difference between Satan and the human conquerors is that Satan and his army wage spiritual warfare for the souls of people. Consider the history of this spiritual war—that it is like a great chess match. In Isaiah 14 we see that Satan was a beautiful angelic creature that God created before the earth was created, but he aspired to know what only God knows, to be like God, and have the power of God—thus in his rebellion he fell from heaven. God’s move was to create His perfect creation on earth, but Satan’s temptation in the garden corrupted it. God then created forgiveness through a blood sacrifice. Then Satan influenced Cain to reject it and kill Able. God then countered with the godly line of humans through Seth. In Genesis 6 we see Satan’s counter move to entice the entire world into rebellion, so God destroyed the creation by flood, but saved the righteous Noah. The adversary’s next move was with Nimrod who led the human race in rebellion against God at Babel. God then divided people by tribes and language and geographic location so they could not be so organized in their pagan idolatry. Then God called Abraham to become the father of a priestly nation to reveal God to the world. Satan countered with slavery in Egypt—-we could go on and on, but you get the point. Spiritual warfare is a real historical fact, and we are involved in it even now. All through history it has appeared that evil is winning but Scripture consistently predicts that God’s ultimate move will checkmate Satan, and all creation will know who has the right to rule. Now, during this last era we call the church age, we anticipate and we look forward to the Day of the Lord when we who have chosen God’s side will experience the victory which has already been won by Christ’s work on the cross. Maybe you are asking “Since God is all powerful, why does He allow Satan limited rule on the earth? I think the answer is that God created us in His image, which means we have a free will able to make cognitive decisions. We have a choice, but without the adversary of God we have no choice, so God allows the choice. The next question might be, “Why the delay? Why doesn’t Christ come immediately and crush the adversary?” 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is patiently giving everyone a chance to come to Him. When all who will come, come, then Christ will return and end the evil moves of the adversary. How Can We Believe in What We Can’t See? The worldly people react and respond to only what they can see, feel, and hear. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:18, “we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen”. By this he means we are aware of the existence of the spiritual realm. This should not be so hard to understand since there is a whole sub atomic world out there that we can’t see. 150 years ago no one knew that the microscopic world existed because they couldn’t see it. Did that mean it wasn’t there? We couldn’t see it but now we know it was always there, and now the quantum revolution dominates technology, engineering, and computers. The length of a millimeter is just a dash like -. An atom is one ten millionth of a millimeter. The smallest thing we can see is about a millimeter but still the unseen world of atoms exists. In the same way there is another world we can’t see—the spiritual world, but it is no less real. In Matthew 4, the devil, the adversary of God, tempted Jesus, and once Jesus resisted the temptations angels came to minister to Jesus. Peter warned in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert, your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking to devour someone”. Don’t forget the many encounters Jesus had with demons in all four Gospel accounts. These spiritual adversaries are not as we picture them in art or movies, but instead the Bible says they masquerade as angels of light, but are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Who are we in fact dealing with? 52 times he is called Satan, which means adversary and 35 times the devil, which means slanderer. He is a fallen rebellious archangel who took one third of the angels with him. The enemy attacks us through the worldly influences and lies we all buy into like moral relativism, philosophies, humanism, peer pressure, and world religions. The enemy also attacks using the selfish lusts of our flesh. We all desire pleasure, riches, self acclimation, vindication, and power. If the critic says he believes only what he can see, I ask him to explain all the eruptions of wars that unexpectedly break out in different places. Before 9–11, who would have predicted we would be in a huge war for 17 years in Afghanistan? What is there to fight about in that dump, rocks? Why can’t we put an end to the drug trade? Why is pornography such a huge business? Why can’t we stop child abuse? Etc etc. The secular humanist answers we need more legislation, education, technology, and social programs. To date we have spent trillions on all that to no avail. Passing more laws and throwing more money at it is like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. They do not understand the essential problem lies below the surface unseen. Like the Titanic the danger in this world is the iceberg below the waterline unseen. Below the waterline of human awareness is a spiritual reality which Paul warns us about in Ephesians 6:10-17. Be Strong in the Lord, Ephesians 6:10-12 The faithful Christian life is likened to a daily battle in a spiritual war, which we can’t see or even imagine. We are to expect opposition and conflict, so we are encouraged to “be strong in the Lord”. Our strength to overcome is rooted in our dependence on the Lord. We need to know that God has given us the defenses to withstand the attacks. Ultimately the church’s battles are already won, the play has already been written, yet until Christ comes back we are in a war. Life is a struggle and this world is a battleground. We need an arsenal of weapons to stand up to the enemy. Our provision is the armor of God, and Paul commanded us to “Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil”. He used a military term here used to hold a critical position while under attack. One of the adversary’s schemes is to discredit God through us. If believers prove to be a bad witness, then it makes God look bad or even nonexistent. The devil’s attacks come through two channels—the world and our flesh. All the peer pressure in the world is persuading us to accept moral relativism and compromise on every level. Our fleshly desires are enticing us to seek pleasure in the wrong things, and to try and satiate our greed. We are hungry, thirsty, greedy, lustful, and seekers of pleasure by nature, so naturally the adversary will put those carrots out there as bait. In Eph. 6:12, he explains who our real enemy is. We normally think the people and circumstances are causing us problems, but behind the scenes our real struggle is against the powers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the spiritual realm. These powerful evil forces are highly organized and have a mission to thwart God’s wonderful plan for us of redemption. In order to overcome, we need to realize our need for help, and know that God is stronger and desires to give us the strength to win the war. John said it well in 1 John 4:4, “greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world”. Six Defensive Weapons and One Offensive Weapon, Eph. 6:14-18 The enemy’s response to the Gospel is lies that the Bible is too difficult, contradictory, and only written by men, therefore you should trust your own feelings and experiences. The adversary of God has had great success leading the world to believe there is no absolute truth, and we should all just make up our own truth that works for us. Therefore Paul, the author of Ephesians wrote this letter to the church from prison in Rome. He was guarded by Roman soldiers, so the soldiers’ outfit and armor would have inspired Paul to use the soldiers armor as an image of our defenses in spiritual war. In Eph.6:14 we are commanded to “stand firm”, with the idea of holding a strategic position in battle. The soldier would prepare for battle by pulling up his tunic between his legs and wrapping it in his belt, thus girding his loins and protecting his sensitive area. Our protection that enables us to stand firm is the truth, and as Jesus said in John 17:17, the Word of God is the truth. We are committed to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The soldier also wore a breastplate that protected his heart and vital organs

  5. 02/20/2020

    Red Sea Rule #2: The Glory of God—the Meaning of Life

    The Glory of God—the Meaning of Life In 1642, the English Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans in England started a civil war against the royalists and King Charles. The Parliament forces won and began putting a coalition of Protestant groups together to agree on Christian doctrine. King Charles claimed to be an Anglican, but his wife was a devout Catholic, and Charles was trying to set the Church of England up like the Roman Catholic Church. Oliver Cromwell’s army defeated the royalists and executed King Charles. Parliament called for the learned, godly, and judicious Christian leaders to meet at Westminster Abbey to design a written belief system based on issues like worship, doctrine, administration, and ordinances. Their meetings over a four year period produced a valuable profession of faith in what Christians believe in. It is called the Westminster Confession of Faith. Included was a catechism in which questions were asked like: What is the purpose of man? The answer is “Mankind’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”. The rest of the story was that the Scottish Parliament formed a covenant with the English Parliament to abandon episcopalianism and adhere to the principles in the Westminster Confession. Years later England returned to a constitutional monarchy and the Anglican Church, but the Westminster Confession of Faith has remained a valuable doctrine of biblical beliefs for all of Christianity. A Christians Purpose in Life A Christian’s purpose in life is to glorify God, just as the Westminster confession says. This is why we were created. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in 1 Cor. 10:31, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”, and again Peter says in 1 Peter 4:11, “whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever”. In Ephesians 1, Paul lists all the many blessings God has lavished upon we who believe, and after every one he writes “to the praise of His glory”, meaning everything God did to save us and bless us resulted in bringing glory to God. Therefore, wherever you are, at home, at work, with your friends or with strangers, and what ever you are doing—do it well and make God look good. God’s original purpose in creation is to reveal His glory. In Isaiah 43:7 we read, “Bring…everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made”. “In Isaiah 6:3, the angels call out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory!” We are a part of that glory, and we live to reveal it. God has implanted His glory in us, and it should radiate to the world around us. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told His disciples that they had the glory of God in them and He said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt.5:16) The Psalmist in Ps. 86:12 makes it his purpose, “I will praise you Oh my Lord with all my heart, I will glorify your name forever.” The creation account in Genesis 1:26-31, is telling us that God created us in His image in order that He and we could enjoy a loving intimate relationship in which we would serve Him and glorify Him. He made us for His glory, therefore He created us in His image. Then he gave us a special job to do to rule over God’s creation in such a way that would glorify God. We are to reflect God’s glory to the world, bear His image, and reveal the truth about God to the watching world. The Meaning Of Life I wondered what the people in the world around us considered the meaning and purpose of life, so I consulted the internet: Hugh Moorhead, of the Philosophy Department of Northwestern University said, “No one seems to know”, Psychoanalyst and author Carl Jung wrote, “I don’t know the meaning or purpose of life, but life looks like something were meant by it”, and novelist Joseph Heller said, “I have no answers and no longer want to search for any.” Aristotle said “happiness is the meaning of life”. The Dalai Lama said “The purpose of life is to be happy and content”. Woody Allen said, “The purpose is to not think about that stuff”. Joseph Campbell a comparative religion scholar said, “Life has no meaning”. Another “learned” guy said “If you figure that out let me know!” These worldly wise people haven’t a clue because they are looking only within this world for answers. Thankfully, the meaning and purpose of life is not a mystery for the Christian. We look in God’s Word for the answers to heavenly questions. God is the Creator of all things, and God created us and gave us meaning and purpose. God has created us for His glory, and in our salvation His mercy and grace are magnified. Our purpose is to have a personal relationship with the living God, and to serve Him and glorify Him. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Cor.5:9 that whether we are still alive in this world or have passed over into heaven our goal is to please God—make Him look good! Therefore the Westminster Confession is correct, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever”. Red Sea Rule # 2, Be More Concerned for God’s Glory Than Your Relief In Robert Morgan’s book THE RED SEA RULES, he opens with a quote from C. H. Mackintosh, “If we could only look upon a difficult crisis as an occasion of bringing out, on our behalf the sufficiency of divine grace, it would enable us to preserve the balance of our souls and to glorify God, even in the deepest waters.” That’s a fancy way to say, “Instead of trying to get out of my problem, how can I try to glorify God in the midst of the problem?” Surely in Exodus 14, Moses realized that God had delivered them from the Egyptian army in such a way that all the glory goes to God. No Hebrew could say they out fought the Egyptians or out smarted them. All honor and credit went to the Lord. God deliberately delivered them in such a way that everyone would know that there was only one true God—the God of Israel. Jesus definitely had God’s glory in mind throughout His ministry. The prevailing teaching in Israel during the time of Christ was that if you sinned, bad things happened, but if you were righteous good things happened. Therefore the Pharisees who were typically rich and healthy, claimed to be righteous, and they looked down on the poor and unfortunate. We see this in John 9 when Jesus is asked about the blind man, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus shocked them by replying “I was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him”. Again in John 11, when His disciples were puzzled that Jesus delayed in going to help Lazarus, Jesus said “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for our sakes that I was not there so that you may believe.” Then right before He raised Lazarus from the dead He said “you will see the glory of God”. Jesus had a different perspective. He saw everything as an opportunity to glorify God. Psalm 106:6-12, The Psalmist’s Account of Exodus 14 Psalm 106 begins with a plea for the people to praise the Lord because He deserves it. We are needy people and God’s mercy, love, and grace are necessary for us to survive. Our praise is more than gratitude for we give God all the credit for our blessings and salvation. Some critics may ask, “Why does God need to be praised? Why does God need all the glory?” It escapes these fools notice that God doesn’t need it, but WE NEED GOD TO RECEIVE ALL THE GLORY. The world is in this mess because of their own fault. God doesn’t start wars, greedy ambitious violent people start wars. God is the only one who knows the way out of whatever mess we find ourselves in. We need for Him to be on His sovereign throne with all the power and glory. If we are depending on people or ourselves, we are SOL (simply out of luck). The only way things will end well is if God is in control and God receives all the glory. He deserves to be praised. Since God is so worthy to be praised, it is for our own well being that He be glorified. Nevertheless, in the Exodus as early as the Red Sea in Ex.14, they rebelled against God and began doubting and complaining. Even after all the other miracles God did to deliver Israel, when they saw the Egyptian army the people said, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have brought us out here to die?” They doubted and cursed Moses and God so early in their voyage that it is clear to us that they were undeserving sinners. In spite of this rebellion God saved them for His own purposes—Psalm 106:8, “Yet He saved them for His name’s sake that He might make His mighty power known”. God parted the Red Sea so the Israelis could walk across on dry ground. Then God caused the waters to come down upon the Egyptians to destroy them. I can’t find any credit due here to the people. It was to God’s credit and their shame. They needed God to get the glory, because without him they just deserved to perish in their sins. In the same way, when we find ourselves trapped in an unsolvable crisis, we need God to get the glory, and we will praise Him because He deserves it! CHARLIE TAYLOR Lesson 2 Podcast:

  6. 02/18/2020

    Red Sea Rule #1 – The Sovereignty of God as Portrayed in THE RED SEA RULES

    The Sovereignty of God as Portrayed in THE RED SEA RULES In his book, THE RED SEA RULES, Robert Morgan has taken the story of Exodus 14 and developed ten rules or principles to live by when you feel trapped by adverse circumstances such as Israel found itself at the Red Sea. God had led them by His glory in the cloud to the Red Sea. Then they were trapped by the Red Sea in front of them and Pharaohs army behind them—there was no way out! This was literally an unsolvable problem in their view. Have you ever had one of that kind of crisis situation? Many years later a priest in Jerusalem named Asaph had such a crisis, but he remembered how God had delivered Israel in Exodus 14. Therefore he wrote Psalm 77, “You (God) made a way through the sea and paths through the deep waters, but your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by using Moses and Aaron”. This proved to Asaph as it does to us that God did this in a history making fashion that even in unsolvable problems, “God will make a way when there seems to be no way”. When the author Morgan was studying Exodus 14, “ten rules unfolded like rubber rafts, ten ways of handling dilemmas and discouragements—a divine protocol for handling life when we find ourselves between the devil and the deep Red Sea”. Morgan has found in Exodus 14 a biblical method to process difficulties by faith in light of God’s presence with us, and His providence and His power. Rule number one is “REALIZE THAT GOD MEANS FOR YOU TO BE WHERE YOU ARE”. Naturally, this assumes God’s sovereignty over all things. God’s sovereignty is the Christian doctrine that God, as the all powerful creator of all things, has the right and power to control all things. The Westminster Confession of Faith says, “God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass.” Many Christians flinch at the word “predestination”, but believe in the foreknowledge of God. Perhaps it would be valuable to discuss the relationship between the two. In many passages such as David’s prayers in 1 Samuel 23, David asked the Lord if he went up to Keilah to defend it against the Philistines, would he prevail—God said yes. Further David asked would the people there inform King Saul of David’s whereabouts, so Saul could come capture him—God said yes they will rat you out. Therefore David did not go to Keilah, the Philistines were not defeated and Saul did not capture David. Now we know that God’s foreknowledge does not require predestination. Foreknowledge and predestination are separable. What we know about predestination that all Christians should believe is that God has predestined certain BIG events like the incarnation of Christ, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. Also in the future God has predestined the second coming and our resurrection. God not only foreknows certain events but causes them to happen no matter what. God’s love required Him to send Jesus into the world to intervene as our Savior no matter what, and God has already set a date for Christ’s return. The Debate Over Free-Will vs. God’s Sovereignty Several questions have arrived and have been debated by the church for over 1600 years. In the creation account, God made man in His image giving man a free will to obey or disobey, therefore how do you balance God’s control over all things with man’s free will moral decision making ability? People recognize immediately that the doctrine of God’s sovereignty raises a problem between God’s control and humans’ moral activity. If God is in control, how can we be truly free to choose? The first great theologian in the church was Augustine around 400 A.D. and he said, “We know that humans have a free will and are held responsible, but we also know that God is sovereign. How these truths relate to each other is hard for us to understand.” A related question is that if God is all powerful and in control, how do you explain the existence of evil? I remember in my Freshman religion class in College, the professor proclaimed, “I can prove to you logically that the God of the Bible does not exist! If God is good He could not tolerate evil, and if God is all powerful He could prevent evil. Therefore there is no God”. At the time I had no answer to that, but now I know there are several holes in his argument. First of all, he failed to realize evil is not a created thing, but a consequence of mankind’s rebellion and disobedience to God. Before man sinned, God had said “If you disobey Me you will surely die”. Augustine wrote that the entry of evil into the world is generally explained as punishment for sin and its continued presence due to humans’ misuse of free will. God’s goodness remains perfect and without responsibility for evil and suffering”. Therefore, God did not create evil, but he created the possibility of evil by giving mankind free will. Another important truth my professor overlooked is that God can actually bring good out of evil. God can allow evil, but in the future somehow use it to bring about good. As in the case of Exodus 14, Pharaoh meant it for evil with the intention to slaughter the people of Israel, but God used it for good by revealing Himself to His people and teaching them to have faith in Him. Literally in every story in the Bible this happens. Jacob lied and cheated his brother and father, and then as a consequence Jacob ended up a hostage to Uncle Laban for 20 years. Laban lied to and cheated Jacob many times during this period, yet we see that in Jacob’s prayer 20 years later (Genesis 32), that he was a totally changed man. God had used all the evil of Laban to humble him and transform Jacob’s character. The ultimate example is Joseph in Genesis 50:20. Joseph’s brothers had beaten him, thrown him in a pit, and then sold him into slavery in Egypt, but by God’s providence he ended up being the Prime Minister of Egypt. In a terrible famine he was able to save his brothers, but his brothers expected him to seek revenge. Joseph told them, “You meant it for evil, but God used it for good.” In the New Testament, Acts 8:1, Saul was heavily involved with persecuting Christians, arresting them, and killing them, yet through God’s providence he ended up being one of Christ’s biggest witnesses, and he wrote almost half of the books in the N. T. When the Apostle John was arrested and exiled on the tiny island of Patmos, who would have believed that he would write the book of Revelation? The great Augustine himself had been a hedonistic womanizer, but he became the greatest theologian in church history. Of course the ultimate example was Jesus, who was falsely convicted, cruelly beaten and whipped, and then crucified. How could any good come from this? God used it to save all of us who believe in Jesus as our Savior, so literally the greatest good came from the worst evil! Divine Providence God’s providence is closely related to God’s sovereignty. Providence comes from two words—Pro and videre. Pro means before and videre means “to see”, therefore providence comes from the idea that God sees beforehand. Divine providence is the governance of God by which He with wisdom and love cares for and directs all things. If you are like me you think God’s will only comes from His intervention or miracles, but providence means God somehow uses all the circumstances and decisions of people to fit together for good in the end. In the short run it may look like evil is winning, but in the end God will somehow through natural means bring about good out of it. In order for God’s plan and will to be carried out, God works through the natural order of things. When Joseph’s brothers sold him and he spent years in a dungeon, I’m sure he wondered how any good could come out of it, but in the end he saved Israel. God hated the sin of Joseph’s brothers, but in God’s providence all their sin worked together toward a greater good that millions of people including Joseph’s brothers would be saved. Think of the evil betrayer Judas Iscariot who lied, deceived, stole, and betrayed Jesus. This was wicked, but all of Judas’ sins led to the greater good –the salvation of the human race. God providentially allowed Judas the freedom to commit a series of evil acts, but somehow it led to the greatest good ever done. Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to work together for good” This passage is perhaps the most well known and quoted concerning God’s providence. First let us see what it does NOT mean. It does not mean that whatever happens is good. It does not mean that whatever happens is enjoyable, comfortable, and pain free. It does not mean we will be healthy and rich. Just look at the context of Romans 8:18, Paul had been arrested, beaten, whipped, stoned, and destitute, yet he wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Suffering and enduring evil were a way of life to Paul, but he had a forward view and assurance from God that in the future God would bring great good out of it. How certain was he? Read Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or peril, or sword?…But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” What God’s sovereignty and providence does mean is that He is in control, and even though He allows men to exercise their free will, it will end up how God decrees it. Look back at Romans 8:28-29. After saying all things will work together for good, the author Paul defines God’s view of “good”. Verse 29 says that God’s decreed will is that we become conformed to the image of Christ—this is GOOD! The sovereignty of God is how it will all come together that we be resurrected into God’s

  7. 11/13/2019

    2 Peter 3—the Day of the Lord and the Coming of Christ

    2 Peter 3—the Day of the Lord and the Coming of Christ The early church found great comfort in the promise of the second coming of Christ. In 2 Peter 3, we see that the false teachers of chapter 2 were trying to shoot holes in the church’s hope, and it was causing turmoil in the churches. The doctrine of the second coming was very important to Peter because he knew that when Christians live in anticipation of Christ’s promised return, they live with excitement and enthusiasm in their faith. The second coming is mentioned and expected in every N. T. book except Philemon and 3 John. In Titus 2:11-14, the second coming of Christ is the church’s blessed hope, and in Romans 8 our utmost longing. It will be the great climax of salvation history. It is a “good news—bad news” message in the sense it will be a wonderful time for believers, but an end to time for unbelievers. We will experience the joy of our resurrection bodies and live in the glory of God, but unbelievers stand condemned and so it will be the end of the world for them. In the first century context of Peter’s readers, false teachers who loved the world and all that’s in it were mocking true Christians for basing their life on this future blessed event. Because this world is all they have to put their hopes into, they don’t want it to end. Without a doubt the adversary of God motivates these false teachers to minimize or discount the hope of Jesus coming back to right all wrongs. When Jesus taught about His second coming in Matthew 24, he followed with His purpose statement for revealing this truth—Be alert, be ready for it. After all, if I as a Christian believe that at any moment history could come to an end, and I would find myself standing before Christ to give an account, would it not affect the way I live now? Five Parables of Matt. 24&25 Jesus, knowing how important it is to anticipate the second coming by being prepared and living godly lives, taught five parables after His teaching on the second coming in Matt. 24-25. These parables are all illustrations of the importance of living expectantly, being alert, and being ready for His arrival. In Matt. 24:40 we see a short story of two people in the field and two other people in the mill. In both cases one is taken off to judgment and one is left to go into the Kingdom. In Matt. 24:42-44, an owner of a house must be ready for a thief to prevent being robbed. In the same way always be ready for Christ to return. Then in v.45-51 Jesus told the parable of a wise servant who was put in charge of his master’s house until he returned from a trip. Since he doesn’t know when the master is coming back, he better be ready at all times else the master will catch him doing evil things. In Matt. 25:1-13, Jesus told a parable about ten virgins who were supposed to be ready to be in a wedding. Five of them were foolishly unprepared when the bridegroom unexpectedly arrived, but the other five were ready. When the groom was announced, the foolish five had no oil for their lamps, but the wise five were prepared. The prepared virgins were happily in the wedding, but the foolish ones missed it. The point is that those who follow Jesus have been told He is coming, and the wise and proper thing to do in the meantime is to serve Him and glorify Him always until He comes. The fifth and most explicit parable, THE TALENTS, is also the longest and most well known of the five. A man who is a symbol for Jesus is a master of a rich estate, but he goes on a long journey. He must trust all his money and possessions to his three servants. The most capable servant is entrusted with five talents, the next servant with two talents, and the third is entrusted to invest one talent. In those days a talent was a weight of silver up to 80 pounds, so it was a significant stewardship. We understand Jesus to mean that He also is leaving His disciples for an undisclosed length of time, and until Jesus comes back we are expected to represent Him using all the gifts and abilities He has given us. When Jesus comes back we will be rewarded based on how we served Him while He was gone. Perhaps as an indication of how long Jesus will delay, we read in v.19 that “after a long time” the master came back and settled accounts with the servants. The first two servants did a good job and were rewarded appropriately, and they got a wonderful commendation of “Well done good and faithful servant” which proved their faithfulness; but the third servant proved that he did not truly know or understand the master. The third servant said that because the master was a hard unfair man who got his money dishonestly, the servant was scared and just buried the money. We perceive immediately that this man is wrong about everything! The master was very gracious in his rewards, and he was the true owner of everything and had a right to the servant’s faithfulness. Although this is a fictitious story told to make a point, it seems that the third servant is proven to be an unbeliever because he doesn’t know or understand the master, and received a severe reprimand and judgment. Regardless, we see the contrast between those who make good use of God’s stewardship and those that don’t. 2 Peter 3:1-7, You Know the Truth, Don’t Forget In 2 Peter 3:1-2, Peter repeats that he is writing again to them to “stir them up” with a reminder of the truth they have been taught many times. Initially the O. T. prophets had taught it, then Jesus taught it, and now the Apostles were teaching it to them. Peter had already told them in chapter 1:12-13 that he was reminding them of the truth in order to stir them up so they wouldn’t forget. Why was Peter worried they would forget so easily? He knew from personal experience that when it comes to spiritual truth, forgetting is endemic to the human race. Jesus explained it well in the parable of the soils in Matt. 13:22 that the Word of God gets choked out because of the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pursuit of pleasure. The false teachers are likened to mockers who deny Christ’s coming using a naturalistic argument. The world is very good at making fun of us, ridiculing believers, and intimidating us. They say that naturalistic laws have always governed the world, so nothing changes and there will be no intervention by God. We live in a closed system where the naturalistic laws that have determined the past control the present as well. QUESTION—Why are they so vindictive with their mocking? I can think of least four reasons: 1. If Jesus returns then the resurrection was true, and 2. It means retribution and accountability to unbelievers, 3. Christ will set up His Kingdom and they won’t be in it, and 4. Judgment will reveal all their evil secrets. 2 Peter 3:5-9, Peter’s Counter Argument In 2 Peter 3:5-9, the author gave a counter argument against the false teachers by referring to Scripture, history, eternity, and the character of God. In verse 5 Peter brought up two events in the creation account of Genesis that God spoke our atmosphere into existence and God spoke again and the land was created. Then in the time of Noah, God destroyed the world with water. The point is that the mockers with their self induced blindness, discount the events of history that God is responsible for causing. If God already intervened in history by bringing judgment by flooding, why is it hard to believe He will do so again? The fact is that the prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament have consistently predicted that God will destroy the present atmosphere and the present earth by fire rather than water. The argument from eternity is that God’s perspective on time is way different than man’s view. The church age we now live in has been short to God since He has an eternal perspective. In 2 Peter 3:9, the author uses the argument based on the character of God. It is actually God’s loving patience that is causing the delay in the time of Christ’s return. God is patiently waiting, giving all who will come to Christ time to come. The delay is actually allowing more people time to come to salvation in Christ. Today, skeptics criticize God for allowing evil to continue, but they don’t realize that when Christ comes He will bring the righteous judgment on the earth and destroy it. Therefore, it is actually merciful of God to wait and give sinners every opportunity. God desires that everyone have freedom to believe or disbelieve the gospel. The Day of the Lord Peter’s third argument in v.10 is the assurance of divine judgment through the miraculous intervention of God to destroy the fallen world. Most of the Old Testament prophets spoke clearly of “The Day of the Lord” which would be a sudden unexpected cataclysmic day of judgment upon the earth. Jesus also predicted this in Matthew 24, as did both Paul and John in their epistles. Now in 2 Peter 3:10, we read that “the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” The good news is that Jesus will set up His Kingdom in which only righteousness will dwell, and all who are His will live in His glory forever. APPLICATION-Peter gives us the obvious application in 2 Peter 3:11-18. Since we who believe know that all this is coming, we should respond now by living ”spotless and blameless” lives. Regard your remaining time as an opportunity to save others, serve the church, and grow spiritually. CHARLIE TAYLOR Lesson 10 Questions:  Fall19 – Lesson 10 Lesson 10 Podcast:

  8. 11/13/2019

    2 Peter 2, False Teachers

    2 Peter 2, False Teachers Jesus sent His disciples into the world to preach the Gospel, and make disciples of all the nations; but at the same time they were going into the world, the world was also trying to move into the churches. Immediately after Paul’s first missionary journey in which he had planted numerous churches in the region of Galatia, false teachers came in after he left, and tried to add to the gospel a works oriented legalism. Paul was shocked, and as soon as he got that report, he fired off a letter to the new churches, which we still have a copy of in our Bible named THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE GALATIANS. Paul warned them of the danger of false teachers preaching a different gospel than what had saved them, and Paul had some serious condemnation for those false teachers. Jesus warned against false teachers in Matthew 7:15, saying they would be very deceptive by coming in “sheep’s clothing”, but inwardly they are “ravenous wolves”. John also warned of “many deceivers” who teach an errant doctrine about Christ in 2 John 7-9. Jude, who was the half brother of Jesus, wrote his epistle primarily about the danger of false teachers. Now in 2 Peter 2, we have Peter’s condemnation of these sneaky, greedy, lustful spreaders of error who have always invaded the church from the first church in Jerusalem to our churches today. Believers in every area and in every century have had to be on guard against this attack. The History of Israel Throughout the history of Israel in the Old Testament, false prophets were always a problem. The true prophets of God were always warning Israel about them, but their deceptive message tended to be more in line with what the people wanted to hear. God sent prophets like Jeremiah with a word of warning to repent and return to total devotion to the one true God of Israel. If they did not repent, God was sending discipline in the form of the Chaldean army from Babylon to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. As you can imagine this was an unpopular message, so the leadership brought in their own experts to deliver an opposing message with a very positive view of what was going on. Jeremiah had some stern words for these false prophets with a word from God, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority, and My people love it so!” (Jer.5:31). Again in Jeremiah 23, God said, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets…who are leading you into futility. They speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the Lord…Behold I am against them…I did not send them…nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit, declares the Lord”. In the New Testament, in Peter’s second letter, Peter began his teaching about false teachers by reminding his readers of the history of Israel being plagued by false prophets in order to convey the message to his audience not to fall into the same trap. By ignoring the Word of God, and listening to the selfishly optimistic words of the deceivers, Israel fell into ruin, and was destroyed. Peter went on to say that there would be false teachers among the churches that would sneakily introduce false destructive heresies, in particular concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The Conduct of False Teacher In 2 Peter 2:1-3, Peter gave us the typical conduct of these false teachers. The false teachers actually rise up out of the midst of the church itself. Initially, no one identifies them as evil, but instead they may be popular and enjoy a large following. They don’t blatantly introduce “destructive heresies”, but very subtly bring in seemingly harmless stuff that is unnoticed. To many, they are appealing, as their message is positive, and very much what people want to hear. Behind the scenes, their true colors are marked by greed, sexual immorality, and the exploitation of people (using the members for their own selfish purposes). Historically, their heresies have centered around the nature of Christ. They might say that Jesus was a great teacher, a great example for us to follow, and a great religious leader. Sounds good doesn’t it, but Jesus is much more than that. They omit that Jesus is God in the flesh who lived a sinless life, and therefore He alone is able to atone for our sins. With a lesser view of Jesus they are then able to put less emphasis on such important doctrines as the resurrection of Christ. Eventually these false teachers will water down Christianity until they have just another man-centered religion with a works based salvation. God’s Judgment is not Asleep In verse 3, Peter said that “their judgment is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep”. There will be divine retribution, even though lightning will not strike them immediately. God is awake to what they are doing, and their eternal condemnation is assured. Peter seems to be using the image of an executioner who seems to be asleep because nothing is happening in the short run. These misleading people seem to get away with it for a long time, but in the end God will crush them. Historically, and in our own experience, these kinds of wolves in sheep’s clothing do at some point in time show their true nature through some type of sex scandal or money scandal. In the history of the Bible Peter gives three examples of God finally acting to bring judgment against evil (2 Peter 2:4-9). The first example is God’s condemnation of fallen angels by committing the worst of them to “pits of darkness”. If God did not fail to judge angels, He certainly will not fail to judge those who mislead the church. Secondly, God did not even spare the whole world from judgment during the time of Noah. Today, many of these televangelists or show business type preachers boast of huge congregations, but do they think that they can escape God’s judgment if He was willing to wipe out the whole world with a flood? Jesus said that when this happened all the evil people “were eating and drinking and marrying”, just living another day as if God would never execute judgment (Matt.24:38). Thirdly, God had patiently waited on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to repent, but at a point in time He did not hesitate to destroy them completely. The author of Jude 7 wrote that these cities were “exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” I’d say that seals their fate, and Peter is suggesting the same fate for false teachers in the church. Interestingly, Peter points out God’s treatment of the righteous among those examples of destruction in 2 Peter 2:7-9. God rescued Noah and his family from the flood, and God spared Lot from the destruction of Sodom. From the story of Lot in Genesis, Lot was no choirboy, but Peter confirms that Lot was a saved believer, and that he was distressed by the horrific sin going on around him in Sodom. Therefore God “rescued” Lot from Sodom. In v.9, Peter makes his point that God knows how to rescue His people, and He is sure to condemn and punish the unrighteous as well. At the end of verse 9 we see that God’s punishment may be delayed until the day of judgment in the future, but the outcome is no less certain. The True Characteristics of the False Teachers As wolves in sheep’s clothing, these people look good, sound good, and are appealing in every way. Just as Paul wrote in 2 Cor.11:14-15 that even “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.” Nevertheless, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:10-22 that behind closed doors they are very self indulgent, corrupt, selfish, adulterers, and worst of all they entice others into sin. This is the sin of Balaam that Peter mentioned in v.15. In Numbers 22-25, Balak the king of Moab, tried to hire a famous prophet named Balaam to curse Israel. Balak had heard of Israel’s many victories and how God was with Israel, so Balak tried to go the superstitious way and get a mercenary false prophet to curse Israel. God not only forbid Balaam from cursing Israel, but God blocked his way by sending the “angel of the Lord” to keep him from going by standing before his donkey. When Balaam struck the donkey, the angel spoke through the donkey to tell him to turn back from cursing Israel. Still, even after God made it clear to Balaam that He was with Israel, Balaam’s greed got the best of him. In the end, the sin of Balaam that Peter refers to was in teaching Moab how to sneakily corrupt Israel. Talk about deception and a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Balaam advised Balak to exploit Israel at their weakest point. They sent the Moabite Bikini team into the Israelite camp to corrupt the men of Israel (my paraphrase of Numbers 25:1-5). We know that Balaam counseled this from Numbers 31:16. When you think about this it is insanity that Balaam thought he could get away with it, yet at the end of the day that is what sin is, insanity. Money, selfishness, sex, and power continued in Peter’s day and far more so today to drive people to be spiritually insane. Peter finished chapter 2 by using various images of false teachers self destruction, the emptiness of their teaching, and their fate, as well as those who follow them. Peter used two particularly disturbing metaphors to describe people who have every advantage and know the truth, but still turn away from it in verse 22, “It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to its own vomit’, and ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” Let us “be on our guard” as Peter wrote at the end of his letter, and “grow in the grace and true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” CHARLIE TAYLOR Lesson 9 Questions:  Fall19 – Lesson 9 Lesson 9 Podcast:

  9. 10/17/2019

    1 Peter 4:7-19, The Church in a Hostile World

    1 Peter 4:7-19, The Church in a Hostile World In 1 Peter 4:1-4, the Apostle wrote that Christ suffered when He was here in the flesh, but He overcame the suffering because He knew it would have a positive result. The suffering of Christ functions as an example or model for us to follow. We need to have the same mindset by accepting suffering as the will of God to achieve a positive result. By accepting it as Christ did, we will begin to live for God now instead of ourselves. Therefore our choices and lifestyle are no longer determined by the desires of our flesh like greed, sexual lust, and self gratification, but by the will of God. When you live for God you cease to sin. In order to empower us to live for the Lord by serving His people, God has gifted each one of us with spiritual gifts along with our natural talents and abilities. Spiritual gifts are different in that they are given by the Holy Spirit at the point in time that we receive Jesus as our Savior. We each are uniquely gifted according to God’s will. We may want to decide what our role in the church should be, but actually God has determined what our gift and role is in serving the body of Christ. The good news is that God doesn’t care about how great the gift is, but He cares about the faithfulness of the servant. I read about a young boy named Antonio back in the seventeenth century who wanted to be a great singer in the church choir, but his voice was squeaky and hard to listen to. Next, he decided he would be a great violinist, and he took lessons, and practiced diligently. He drove the neighbors crazy with the noise he was making, and his parents made him give that up. The only talent he showed in doing anything was whittling and wood carving. When he was older, he became an apprentice to a violin maker. It turned out he had a gift making violins. He had always wanted to make great music in the church, and now it turned out that Antonio Stradivarius made the best violins ever made. Now 300 years later there are about 1500 Stradivarius violins still in use, and they are the most coveted violins in the world. They typically sell for over $100,000 each. The guy didn’t have the gift of singing, playing, or preaching, but his violins are still making beautiful music for the Lord. In the same way, each believer in Christ has a gift to share with the church that will meet the needs of the body of Christ—the Church. Therefore we must be willing to take and use what God has given us to edify the church. I remember the preaching course I took in Seminary school. We had to each preach three sermons during the semester, and hopefully we would improve during that time. One fellow had a terrible time with his first sermon, so the Professor said maybe his gift wasn’t preaching. The guy disagreed saying, “My grandfather was a preacher, my father was a preacher, and I will be a preacher!” His second sermon was terrible, and his third sermon was the worst. The Professor again said “you don’t have the gift of preaching, so you should think about administration.” The guy adamantly insisted he did, so the Professor said, “Then I guess we don’t have the gift of listening!” Love One Another by Serving, 1 Peter 4:7-19 An incentive for serving and loving was that “The end of all things is at hand”. This adds an urgency to our work for the Lord. Keep in mind that Peter wrote this about 2,000 years ago, so it may seem that he was mistaken, but upon further review he meant that the Church Age that we are living in is the last era before Jesus comes back to end this evil world and set up the Kingdom as Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, “God will give relief to you who are afflicted…when Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution…when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who believe”. Don’t forget that the endings to all the previous eras were predicted—Noah and the antediluvian world, Sodom’s destruction, slavery in Egypt, Israel’s captivity, Jeremiah predicted the end of the Old Covenant, Jesus predicted the end of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the New Testament authors predict the end of the last era, the Church Age. Therefore the time to get busy and please the Lord is now, because we don’t know if Jesus is coming back tomorrow or 1,000 years from tomorrow. Instructions for Our Duty to the Church, 1 Peter 4:7-10 Peter gives four instructions to govern our lives now before Christ comes back: be sound and sober minded, have fervent love for each other, show hospitality, and serve one another with your gifts. This will require self denial and being under the control of the Holy Spirit because self denial is not a normal human thing. Why have alertness and be sober minded? Why the need for constant prayer? The deceptive world we live in is constantly lying to you and distracting you. Just think of all the worldly things we have all bought into—the pursuit of pleasure, self indulgence, win at all cost, the ends justify the means, etc. All these things are natural to the human race, and we must not fall victim to them. Instead we need to love one another by putting the interests of others ahead of our own. God helps us here by giving us all spiritual gifts in order to meet the needs of others. Loving and serving is very hard because people may be unlovable and unworthy, therefore God has given us the ability to overlook insults or disagreements, but instead forgive as God forgave us. It is volitional love when we choose to love unlovable people. Because believers are still sinners, the only thing that will preserve the church’s unity is love. 1 Peter 4:10-11, Spiritual Gifts Each believer in Christ has been gifted by God so that we can meet each others needs. Peter wrote here that “each one has received a special gift”, and they must employ it in serving one another. God has gifted us, and we are stewards who are expected by God to use those gifts to reveal the grace of God. Spiritual gifts are a common topic in the New Testament. In Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he wrote “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor.12:4-31). Every Christian has received a special gift from God, which is a divine enablement for ministry in the church. If everyone used those gifts and were obedient to the stewardship entrusted to them, then the church would operate as a well oiled machine meeting the needs of all the members of the church. Paul used the human body as an analogy of what God intended. Our human body has many members such as hands, feet, fingers, eyes, mouth, nose, etc. Each member does its part in the coordinated activity of the human body. Perhaps people think the eye is more important than the feet, but each member is important in God’s economy. Each member has a different function, but all the members have the same purpose. Each part is important and necessary to the proper function of the whole. In Ephesians 4:7-12, we read that God has gifted some as apostles, some as evangelists, some as teachers, some as servers, and some as pastors, but God has done so “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to build up the body of Christ (the church)”. In Romans 12:4-8, we read that we are all given diverse gifts as members of “one body of Christ”. Since we all have gifts that are different according to what God has given us, we are all expected to use them to serve the church. As examples of the different gifts, he lists service, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading, encouragement, and mercy. These are not meant to be an exhaustive list, but just obvious examples. In 1 Peter 4:11, the author uses two broad categories—speaking gifts and serving gifts. The speaking gifts are gifts like preaching, teaching, evangelism. The serving gifts are administration, helps, prayer, giving, encouragement, and giving. The speaking gifts are to be employed as speaking and teaching the Word of God, and therefore not just opinions, not social issues, not politics, etc. In 1 Peter 4:11b, Peter gives us a very important purpose statement laying out the goal and the purpose of using our gifts. God strengthens us to use our gifts “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever”. If you have ever wondered what the purpose of life is, now we know it is to glorify God. 1 Cor.10:31 says “do all to the glory of God, and Colossians 3:17, “whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God”, and Ephesians 1:12 “we are to be to the praise of God’s glory”, and Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him be the glory forever”, and Revelation 5:13 “every created thing which is in heaven and on earth I heard saying ‘To Him who sits on the throne (in heaven) be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever”. Why is it so important to Serve and Love One Another? In 1 Peter 4:12-19, Peter pivots to why it is so important to each of us and the church as a whole to serve and love as God intends for us to do. About the time Peter wrote this letter in 64 A.D., a huge fire raged in Rome. It burned for 6 days and then seemed to be extinguished, but mysteriously reignited and burned for 3 days more. Two thirds of Rome was destroyed. The great Roman historian of the time, Tacitus wrote that Nero blamed Christians for the fire thus initiating the great persecution of Rome against Christians that lasted about 250 years. Nero wasted no time in rolling out plans and the rebuilding of Rome according to his favorite architecture and design. Historians assume that Nero himself started the fire since it was no secret that he desired an excuse to rebuild Rome. He needed a scapegoat so he diverted attention away from himself and toward the Chris

  10. 10/08/2019

    Suffering Innocently-1 Peter 3:13-4:6

    Suffering Innocently-1 Peter 3:13-4:6   In 1 Peter 2:19-20, Peter draws a distinction between suffering innocently and suffering deservedly because of sin. It finds favor with God if a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly, but there is no credit from God when it is from wrongdoing. Peter then went on to give the perfect example of that in Jesus. Jesus suffered for us, giving us an example to follow. Peter borrows from Isaiah 53:4-9 to explain why Jesus found it necessary to suffer in this way. We are all like sheep who have strayed away from God to do our own thing. The problem is that sheep are helpless without a shepherd. They must have a shepherd to save them from harm, and to provide for them. Therefore it was absolutely necessary that Jesus save us and lead us back to the Good Shepherd. In the same way, we are to view the people in the world around us as lost sheep who need a Shepherd. We are willing to put up with abuse, insults, and suffering in order to win some for Christ, the Good Shepherd. In John 10:14, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and I know my own sheep, and my own know me” The problem of suffering despite doing what is right, now becomes the subject of sustained attention in 1 Peter 3:13-4:6. Peter asked a rhetorical question in v.13 similar to the one Paul asked in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Does that mean you are bulletproof, or that you have a guaranteed “get out of trouble pass”? No, actually just the opposite may happen. At the time of Peter’s writing, Nero was beginning a time of an unprecedented persecution against Christians. They were almost guaranteed some beatings, imprisonment, and even martyrdom. Therefore, Peter was meaning that they would be blessed spiritually for their sacrifice. A New Badge of Divine Honor In 1 Peter 3:14, Peter told his audience of Christians not to fear suffering because God would use it to bless them. In the New Covenant that Jesus introduced, suffering is not a disgrace but a badge of divine honor. The New Testament ascriptions of honor and status are revolutionary to mankind because they challenge conventional expectations and values. Instead of acknowledging wealth and political power, Jesus and His disciples honored the humble, the persecuted, and the despised. Suffering was seen as a spiritual privilege for believers. Paul’s defense of his apostleship in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 defies all human logic. Paul said of his critics, “Do they claim to be servants of Christ? I far more so; in labors, imprisonments, beatings, dangers, lashes, stonings, etc.” It sounds as if Paul is quite proud to wear these sufferings as his “badge of honor”. Actually, he was just drawing an obvious distinction between his true ministry suffering for Christ, and their bogus ministry boasting about their worldly accomplishments. All the N.T. authors thought very highly of suffering for the Lord, as James 5:10-11 says, “As an example of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke for the Lord. Behold, we count them blessed who endured.” Paul said in Romans 8:17, “if we suffer with Christ in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” I think Paul looked at it as all a part of the same package. If we share all the benefits of salvation with Him, and expect to share in His resurrection and eternal life, then we can certainly now for a little while share in the same type of innocent sufferings that He went through for us. Apologetics At the end of 1 Peter 3:14, Peter quoted Isa.8 that we should not fear our persecutors, but only have a reverential fear of God. Instead of fearing men, we should “sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts”. This is the idea of honoring Christ as holy, and the sinless agent of our redemption. Since our confidence is in Him, we are always ready to defend Him. Therefore Peter said to “always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you” concerning Christ. The Greek word we translate as a defense is “apologia” which is the word we get apology from. In Greek it means a formal defense against charges, but the apostles used it in the Bible to describe their ability to answer all questions about Jesus. We can now maintain a state of preparedness for a response to any questions by simply knowing two stories—our own story, and the basic gospel story. All of us can tell our story of the difference Jesus has made in our own life, and we can combine our story with the gospel. Like all of the human race, we fall short of the standard of God, and therefore need help when it comes to the righteousness that God requires. God in His love has provided what we need in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ who died for our sins. We appropriate the atoning work of Jesus into our own life by faith. By faith we believe in Jesus as the sole means of our salvation. When we add that to our own story, we have the defense that Peter was commanding his audience to prepare. In 1 Peter 3:16, Peter adds another element that is important to our defense to the world around us. That additional defense is keeping a good conscience. Many call that lifestyle- evangelism, because when people are witnesses to our good citizenship and godly lifestyle, they are drawn to it. If Peter’s audience keeps this “good conscience”, in time the tables will be turned on those who slander them, and they will be put to shame. Peter takes the opportunity yet again in v.18 to put a positive light on suffering by using Jesus as an example. As bad as it looked on the day He was crucified, a very positive thing came out of Christ’s suffering on the cross. Sins were atoned for “once for all”, in order that Jesus might reconcile us to God. Innocent suffering for a positive purpose is a difficult concept, especially for those who are in the midst of the painful experience, but praise God that He took His own medicine, so to speak. God Himself took on the flesh so He could suffer innocently to redeem all who would come to Him in faith to receive their pardon. CHARLIE TAYLOR Lesson 5 Questions:  Fall 19 – Lesson 5 Lesson 5 Podcast:

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